Trump-Putin Alaska summit yields results as Ukraine, European leaders to meet at White House

Cautious optimism for advancing peace emerged from the Trump-Putin Summit in Alaska on Friday, with a possible path for a three-way peace conference between the U.S., Russia and Ukraine.

Agreement terms were revealed over the weekend, including security guarantees for Ukraine and territorial concessions stretching back to annexations made by Russia during the Obama administration.

Next on the agenda will be Monday’s White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders, who the U.K.’s Telegraph has likened to a human shield around Zelenskyy. 

Zelenskyy’s last appearance at the White House to discuss peace with U.S. President Donald Trump found him in the crosshairs of friendly fire from administration officials, who described the Ukraine president as unprepared for the give-and-take required to negotiate a deal.

While Democrats and the legacy media discounted results from Friday’s summit, Trump still expressed optimism because all sides have agreed to meet for face-to-face discussions.

European leaders praised Trump’s diplomatic efforts while emphasizing the need for robust security guarantees for Kyiv.

Trump called the meeting with Putin “extremely productive,” with the Russian president agreeing the meeting was “quite useful.”

Putin said the main issue in ending the Ukraine war were “fundamental threats to our security,” noting Ukraine and Russia share common history and heritage.

Trump cautioned the results of the conference didn’t quite add up to peace, noting some “big” issues on which “we haven’t gotten quite there” in terms of an agreement.

“There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” the U.S. president said.

He noted he would be consulting with NATO, European leaders and Zelenskyy to see whether they could agree to the terms to continue talks.  

“It’s ultimately up to them” to establish peace with Russia, said Trump.

Jack Posobiec, senior editor at Human Events, reported Trump made phone calls on board Air Force One until 2 a.m., consulting with the allies.

The result is a conclave of European leaders Trump called the largest ever at the White House.

“Big day at the White House tomorrow,” said the president via social media on Sunday. “Never had so many European Leaders at one time. My great honor to host them!!!”

Trump rebuffed Democrat attempts to paint the meeting with Putin as appeasing Russia, noting Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean region in 2014 while Obama was president.

“President Trump should have pressured Putin by imposing crushing sanctions on his war machine and providing Ukraine with the tools it needs to defend itself,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee in a statement published by the Kyiv Post. “Instead, quite literally rolling out the red carpet, Trump has legitimized Russia’s aggression and whitewashed Putin’s war crimes.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio countered by noting it’s impossible to negotiate a peace agreement without engaging the Russian president.

“You’re not going to end a war between Russia and Ukraine without dealing with Putin… The President is the only leader in the world that could get Putin to a meeting to talk about serious things.”

Trump cautioned Ukraine demanding territory they lost when Obama was president is a nonstarter in negotiations, especially after then-President Obama denied Ukraine entry into NATO.

“President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight,” Trump said. “Remember how it started. No getting back Obama given Crimea (12 years ago, without a shot being fired!), and NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE. Some things never change!!!”

The implication by Trump is that if the war continues, Europe and Ukraine will have to go it alone.

Rubio reiterated the point on Sunday talk shows, saying the war in Ukraine “is not our war.”

Trump Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said there is momentum toward peace, reported CNN.  

One major concession by Russia involves allowing European and U.S. security guarantees to Ukraine for their current borders, stopping just short of NATO membership, Witkoff said.

Russia hasn’t confirmed they’ve agreed to those guarantees.

But Rubio was more guarded.

“We made progress in the sense that we identified potential areas of agreement, but there remains some big areas of disagreement. So we’re still a long ways off,” he said on ABC’s This Week. “We’re not at the precipice of a peace agreement, we’re not at the edge of one, but I do think progress was made.”

Still, Trump said it’s possible Russia and Ukraine can enter directly into peace negotiations even without a ceasefire agreement after today’s White House conference.

“If all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin,” he added.